Pet travel requirements vary by destination, airline, and facility — but the records you need overlap significantly. A current rabies certificate, a USDA-endorsed health certificate for international trips, vaccination history for boarding, and a digital emergency card are the foundation. Voocie keeps all of it in one place so you're never scrambling the night before a flight or at a kennel check-in counter.
The guides below cover every major travel and boarding scenario: what a "pet passport" actually is, what airlines require at the gate, what boarding facilities demand before they accept your dog, and how to build a digital emergency card your ER vet can access in seconds.
- A pet passport (US version) is a collection of documents — rabies certificate, USDA-endorsed health certificate, and microchip records — not a single government-issued booklet.
- Most airlines require a health certificate issued within 10 days of travel, plus a current rabies vaccination record, for any pet traveling in cabin or cargo.
- Boarding facilities typically require proof of rabies, DHPP (dogs) or FVRCP (cats), and bordetella vaccinations — and many now also require canine influenza.
What travel and boarding record guides are available here?
Pet passport: what health records you actually need
What a "pet passport" really is in the US versus the EU, which documents count, and how to organize them for international and domestic travel.
Dog vaccination records for airlines: what to bring
What airlines actually require at the gate — health certificates, rabies certs, breed restrictions — and how cabin vs. cargo rules differ.
Emergency card for pets: what to include and why it matters
What goes on a pet emergency card, where to keep it, and how a digital version gives an ER vet your pet's full history in seconds.
Pet records for boarding: what vaccination records facilities actually require
Standard kennel and daycare vaccination requirements by species, how to pull records from multiple vets, and what to bring on check-in day.
How does Voocie help with travel and boarding records?
Voocie stores your pet's complete health history — vaccination records, visit summaries, lab results, health certificates — in one account. When you need to share records with a boarding facility, airline desk, border agent, or emergency vet, you generate a secure sharing link. The recipient sees the record instantly. No fax, no photocopies, no "can you call my old vet."
Every time your vet sends a visit summary, they CC the pet's private Voocie address. The record updates automatically. By the time you're ready to travel, your pet's health history has been building itself for years. Voocie costs $99/year, or about $10/month. Start at voocie.com/start.
Blog posts on pet travel and boarding
- Traveling with pets: the health documents you actually need
- Pet records for boarding and daycare: what facilities actually need
- Pet passport and travel: the documents airlines, borders, and boarders actually ask for
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a pet passport to travel with my pet?
In the US, there is no single government-issued "pet passport." What you need is a collection of documents: a current rabies certificate, a USDA-endorsed health certificate for international travel, and microchip documentation. The EU does issue an official pet passport booklet, but US-issued documents serve the same function at most borders. See the pet passport records guide for a full breakdown.
What records does a boarding facility actually require?
Most kennels and doggy daycares require current proof of rabies, DHPP (for dogs) or FVRCP (for cats), and bordetella. Many now also require canine influenza vaccination. Requirements vary by state and facility — see the boarding vaccination checklist for details and state-specific links.
What does an airline require for a pet traveling in cabin?
Most US airlines require a health certificate issued by a licensed veterinarian within 10 days of your flight, plus a current rabies certificate. Some routes and airlines have additional requirements. See the airline pet health documents guide for specifics.
How do I get my pet's records from multiple vets into one place?
Voocie makes this straightforward: your vet CCs the pet's private Voocie address on visit summaries and records are captured automatically going forward. For past records, you can upload or forward them. Within a few steps, your pet's full history from every clinic lives in one place — shareable with a single link.